This study was a yearlong investigation over writing instruction with one class of ninth grade students in an urban, "underperforming" high school. Using qualitative methods with embedded quantitative features, findings revealed students benefited little from the writing instruction they received. In fact, most students showed virtually…

Stress and burnout are pervasive among public school teachers and amplified in urban schools, where job demands are often high and resources low. Relatively little is known about factors contributing to stress and burnout among urban school teachers specifically, or how these aspects of teacher occupational wellbeing relate to their use of…

High rates of trauma exposure can impede school functioning, which is predictive of many negative long-term outcomes. This study examined school functioning in Latinx children with clinically elevated levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms. We found that child gender, parent language use, and parent school involvement were associated with school…

Improving ninth grade course passing rates has been shown to be crucial in improving high school outcomes. Yet at this critical transition to high school, family engagement has tended to decrease. This study explores how increasing use of the parent portal could potentially help to reduce ninth grade failure. Using automatically generated…

Improving ninth grade course passing rates has been shown to be crucial in improving high school outcomes. Yet at this critical transition to high school, family engagement has tended to decrease. This study explores how increasing use of the parent portal could potentially help to reduce ninth grade failure. Using automatically-generated…

This study relied on motivational models derived from self-determination theory to explain how garden-based science activities can contribute to minority students' motivation and learning in science class and academic identity in science. Participants were 105 sixth-grade students from primarily low-SES families at two diverse urban schools.…

Early mathematics knowledge is a strong predictor of later academic achievement, but children from low-income families enter school with weak mathematics knowledge. An Early Math Trajectories model is proposed and evaluated within a longitudinal study of 517 low-income American children from age 4 to 11. This model includes a broad range of math…

Poetry is one of the most feared and least understood literary genres in our public schools. Boys, in particular, are frequently perceived to be resistant to poetry instruction; a view that often stems from a limited vision of what poetry is and a misread of masculinity. Nevertheless, the study of poetry provides many benefits in the journey to…

Objective: To identify the effects of a structured and multifaceted physical activity and recess intervention on student and adult behaviour in school. Design: Mixed-methods and community-based participatory approach. Setting: Large, urban, low-income school district in the USA. Methods: Data were collected at three time points over a 1-year…

This longitudinal study examined the psychosocial adjustment of adolescents who affiliate with antisocial crowds in a gang-impacted urban environment. We followed 405 adolescents (219 boys, 186 girls; average age of 11.51 years, SD = 0.61; 84% Latino, 9% Asian, and 7% other or unclassified) for one academic year. These youth attended a middle…

Teachers and school nurses partner together to help ensure students stay healthy and engaged in school. The purpose of this study is to generate a deeper understanding of teachers' perceptions on the benefits and challenges of working with full- or part-time school nurses. We conducted a qualitative analysis of open-ended survey responses from 129…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of a nutrition-education intervention delivered at low-income middle schools in Washington, DC in the USA, using a mobile farmers' market to bring hands-on lessons to schools. The program was a partnership between a local farm and university and was funded by the United States Department…

This quasi-experimental study examined the effectiveness of a combined tutoring and mentoring intervention for urban, low-income Black youth during the transition to high school. Participants were 118 ninth-grade students (experimental n = 69; comparison n = 49). After 7 months in the intervention program, students in the experimental group showed…

Modern teens have pervasively integrated new technologies into their lives, and technology has become an important component of teen popular culture. Educators have pointed out the promise of exploiting technology to enhance students' language and literacy skills and general academic success. However, there is no consensus on the effect of…

This article presents an exploratory study of the relation between academic engagement and academic achievement for Latina/o and non-Latina/o adolescents attending a predominantly low-income, Latina/o urban middle school in Southern California. A sample of 61 students (37 Latinas/os and 24 non-Latinas/os) participated in the study. The Latina/o…